Chapter 215
Chapter 215
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 60
>Chapter Title: Secret Mission (1)
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Rumble.
The prow of the lead boat scraped against the shallows and came ashore.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Anchors dropped from both sides and the stern of the boat, but the fierce current still rocked it violently.
Even so, they successfully crossed the river in less than half a shichen.
By the time they arrived, Seop Chun, Ja Geum-jeong, Mong Muyak, and the others had awakened, their faces blank and dazed, minds still foggy.
They hadn't even properly realized when they had fallen asleep or woken up.
It just felt like they had dozed off for a moment.
'Hmm.'
Mok Kyung-un watched them curiously before approaching Ha Yun, the ghostly ferryman standing at the rudder. He cupped his fists in salute and bowed.
"Thanks to you, we crossed safely. My gratitude."
-I merely kept my word. No need for excessive thanks.
"A promise is a promise, and gratitude is gratitude."
-Very well. Then disembark carefully.
"Ah! Before you go, may I ask one more thing?"
-........What is it?
"Have you seen—or do you know—an old man with a bamboo fishing pole?"
At those words, the ghostly Ha Yun paused for a moment.
But he soon shook his head in reply.
-I do not.
"Truly?"
-.......Yes.
Mok Kyung-un let out a soft chuckle at Ha Yun's response, then lightly nodded once more before turning away.
Watching Mok Kyung-un's retreating figure, Ha Yun recalled the earlier exchange.
[If he asks about me, say you know nothing.]
He had hidden it due to the elder's request, but that cunning young man seemed to have figured it out.
At least that he and the elder shared a connection.
But unless the elder wished otherwise, it was best not to reveal his identity.
'.......As the elder foresaw, if he truly possesses talent surpassing that one, our paths will surely cross again someday.'
* * *
Around the hour of Xu, early evening.
Before the abandoned Guandi Temple on the eastern side of Giju Mountain in Anrak County, Henan Province.
Three men sat around a campfire, tearing into roasted deer meat.
Among the three in their mid-twenties, one stood out sharply: his face was pale as if powdered, his lips red as if rouged.
He didn't even bite into the meat—he delicately picked at it.
The droopy-eyed man with a blue band tied around his forehead clicked his tongue as he watched.
"Yu Bong, you've gone full eunuch on us."
"Hee hee hee. It's been nearly two years living as one—what else is new?"
"Fine, whatever else, but can you do something about that laugh?"
"How does one unlearn what's ingrained in the mouth? Bear with it a little, Gan Yang. Hee hee hee."
"Sigh."
The cloying laugh grated so much that Gan Yang, the blue-banded man, let out a heavy sigh.
Just then, the bearded man sitting across from him paused mid-bite, irritation lacing his voice as he called out.
"Gan Yang."
"What?"
"We've waited long enough here. How about heading back?"
"Head back?"
"Yes. The rear guard won't arrive today anyway."
"But Ok Ki..."
Ok Ki cut off Gan Yang's attempt to speak, raising his voice.
"Not one day—it's been nearly half a month of pouring rain. Rivers flooding everywhere, landslides too. How could they possibly make the deadline?"
As he said, the devastation from half a month's nonstop rain was beyond words.
Especially near the rivers—they had heard it was impossible even to launch boats.
Considering that, even masters couldn't possibly rendezvous on time, Ok Ki judged.
"Hmm."
Gan Yang stroked his chin, looking troubled.
The Imperial Guard Bureau's martial exam was in three days.
They had to reach the capital Kaifeng within two days before that, and fully brief them on the secret mission's true purpose and requirements.
And that wasn't all—there was someone they absolutely had to meet before the exam.
"We can't manage alone."
"It's not about managing— we're already late. If they arrive tomorrow, the mission's already derailed."
"........"
"We planned for the vanguard failing to arrive on time anyway. Let's withdraw."
Gan Yang sighed at Ok Ki's words.
True, no matter how he thought about it, it was impossible.
The flooded rivers from the downpours—they probably couldn't even cross for days.
Realistically, even three days from now, the odds of them reaching here were slim.
"Whew. You're right. Let's pull out."
Ok Ki's face finally showed satisfaction at Gan Yang's decision.
He had never welcomed the rear guard to begin with.
The inner sanctum dispatching promising later-generation talents at 'that place's' request? They were just green scholars without real combat or espionage experience.
In contrast, they had trained specifically for this day.
Waiting only to return home in glory, draped in brocade.
To carry out the mission with those bookworms as the main force?
Utterly unacceptable, no matter how he sliced it.
'I'll show them we can pull it off without those nobodies.'
Ok Ki reached to pull the remaining deer meat from the spit to douse the fire.
That was when it happened.
Rustle!
A presence stirred in the southwestern brush.
He and the others hastily gripped their weapons and whipped their heads around.
Someone pushed through the undergrowth.
"Ahh. Looks like we made it just in time."
'!?'
Ok Ki inwardly gasped at the face illuminated by the campfire.
For a split second, he mistook it for a woman's—so strikingly beautiful.
Then three more emerged behind.
The one who caught the eye most: not tall, but muscular and burly, fierce-faced with broken prayer beads around his neck.
Flanking him: a late-twenties youth with a light short sword looking somewhat frivolous, and a tall, handsome youth who exuded cold precision.
'No way?'
Ok Ki's expression hardened at their appearance.
Could these be the rear guard?
'Impossible.'
Even rushing, they couldn't make the deadline.
They couldn't even cross the river—how had they arrived today?
As he reeled in shock, Gan Yang—the vanguard leader—addressed them.
"Heaven's Mandate."
It was the prearranged passphrase.
Mong Muyak stepped forward at Gan Yang's words.
"Earth's Fortune."
Gan Yang's face lit up.
The rear guard he thought wouldn't make it had arrived just as they were about to withdraw.
Clap!
Gan Yang cupped his fists to salute and greet them.
"Welcome. We of the van—"
Ok Ki cut him off.
"We haven't confirmed they're the rear guard yet."
"What are you saying? How could anyone know this location and pass—"
"What if we botch it? We verify everything!"
Gan Yang felt awkward at Ok Ki's firm stance.
He had been overflowing with dissatisfaction since the Assembly's notice about the rear guard.
"Look, Ok Ki..."
"The Assembly said three. But here are four. And they hit an impossible deadline. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"
'He has a point.'
Gan Yang's expression hardened with a trace of wariness.
It was too suspicious to dismiss as mere rear-guard resentment.
Shing!
Ok Ki drew his sword, aiming at the newcomers.
"The Assembly said the rear guard numbers three. What are your true identities?"
Mong Muyak bristled at being interrogated with a blade pointed at them.
"Who the hell are you suspecting?"
"If you've done something suspicious, explain it—instead of snapping back?"
In normal circumstances, he would have clarified their status first, no matter how sharp the other acted.
But like all the rear guard, Mong Muyak was on edge.
They had pushed through nearly ten days of torrential rain without proper rest to meet the deadline.
Being accosted like this naturally irked him.
"Snapping? Who the hell—"
"Ahh. Calm down."
Mok Kyung-un held him back.
"But my lord..."
'My lord?'
Ok Ki and the vanguard all frowned at "my lord."
Ignoring it, Mok Kyung-un continued.
"We three are the rear guard. This one is my servant."
'What? Servant?'
Ja Geum-jeong's face twisted in disbelief at Mok Kyung-un's introduction.
He had watched warily for trouble, but never expected this nonsense.
Ok Ki snorted at Ja Geum-jeong, who couldn't hide his displeasure.
"Bringing a servant on a secret mission? You expect us to buy that?"
"Not from the Assembly—we picked him up en route."
Ok Ki's face darkened fiercely at Mok Kyung-un's nonchalant reply.
Asked to explain, and spouting utter drivel.
Even Gan Yang, the vanguard leader, couldn't accept it. He half-drew the sword at his waist.
"You think we're playing games? Dragging an unknown servant on the Assembly's vital secret mission—expect us to just nod along?"
"Is it because of who he is?"
"No, that's not the poi—"
"Ever heard of Ja Geum-jeong?"
"Ja Geum-whatever... what?"
Gan Yang's face froze, his voice rising in frustration.
He doubted his own ears.
The Ja Geum-jeong he knew was Shaolin's defrocked monk—more infamous as one of the Three Madmen than for his Mad Demon Fist title.
'No way!'
Impossible.
Why would Shaolin's own mad defrocked monk become this kid's servant?
It made no sense.
Yet...
'.........'
Gan Yang's gaze shifted to Ja Geum-jeong.
From first sight, the face had seemed familiar.
Broken prayer beads, burly build, fierce visage—all matched the rumors exactly.
The situation didn't add up, but if it might be real, Gan Yang was at a loss for words.
Ok Ki was different.
"Ha! You think we'll swallow that nonsense? Even if Shaolin cast him out, would the infamous Three Madman Ja Geum-jeong stoop to servant for some green kid not even thirty? If you have any sense—"
Crack!
"Gah!"
Before he finished, someone seized Ok Ki's throat in a flash and hoisted him up.
It was none other than the defrocked monk Ja Geum-jeong.
'You bastard...'
Thinking himself careless for a moment, Ok Ki swung his held sword to slash Ja Geum-jeong's arm.
But Ja Geum-jeong snapped his wrist first.
Snap!
"Grk!"
Clang!
His sword clattered to the ground.
Ja Geum-jeong, veins bulging on his forehead, snarled through gritted teeth.
"Whether I serve as servant or slave, who the hell are you to yap? Want me to snap your neck here and send you to Buddha?"
"Ggkh..."
Ok Ki's pupils shook like in an earthquake.
'This... is the real Ja Geum-jeong?'
Ok Ki's skills had reached the peak of the top class.
Among his peers across the jianghu, he prided himself on the upper ranks.
Yet someone who could single-handedly lift and immobilize him possessed unmistakable power—undeniably Ja Geum-jeong.
Amid it all, Mok Kyung-un smiled at Gan Yang, the vanguard leader.
"If you need exactly the right number, why not just reduce by one right now?"
'!!!!!!!'
Ok Ki's face drained of color at those words.
[End of Chapter 60: Secret Mission (1)]